Description

Good Morning Little School Girl, Beat It On Down The Line, It's All Over Now Baby Blue, I'm A King Bee Cryptical Envelopement-> Drums-> The Other One-> Cryptical Envelopement-> Death Don't Have No Mercy, Turn On Your Love Light, Viola Lee Blues

Write a review
Streamed 11,253 times Reviews
Average Rating:

Reviewer: clementinescaboose - - October 12, 2010
Subject: viola
i wouldn't call it the mother of all versions - for that, check out 4/21/69 a few weeks later, its better and much more tightly played - but what this version lacks in dexterity it makes up for in straight FIRE raging jam power. nice stuff.

Reviewer: Franchi$e - - April 6, 2010
Subject: Good Show
Yeah kinda creepy and eerie at points with mediocre sound quality, but a solid early Dead show.

Reviewer: Styrofoam Cueball - - November 7, 2008
Subject: Vera DeMilo on Vocals...
This is an awesome show...but what's up with Bobby's vocals? This show explains to me why he got so few lead vocals during the Aoxomoxoa-Workingman's era...he sounds like he's singing through a horse's feed bag. Very horsey indeed....but the music is awesome and Jerry and Pig are in fine voice, so 5 stars.

Reviewer: williscat2000 - - January 18, 2006
Subject: looks like a typical 67-68 show
BUT it's actually the third night of a 3 night stand at the Avalon in san fransisco in 1969!

excellent 3 night run.

Reviewer: Susep - - September 18, 2005
Subject: It's not the tune that counts but IT
As one reviewer noted a manic energy pervades this performance. Check out TOO.

Reviewer: DeadDave - - February 20, 2005
Subject: Scary
Yeah, the guy moaning "I don't want to die" over and over is pure giddy terror that only the Dead can pull off. This HAS to be the definitive "Death" man.

The recording is certainly a little rough...but as they say This IS a diamond in such. 4.5 stars (Bobby vocals) for performance, 3 for quality.

Reviewer: Muddy69 - - December 21, 2004
Subject: Death Don't
Absolutley a haunting Death don't have no mercy complete with the tripped out dude wailing in the backround " I don't want to die ". I love it. Fantastic Viola Lee Blues with the power outage at the end. This was one of the first tapes I had back in the late 80's , and is still a favorite. Download immeadiatly !

Reviewer: velociraptor - - December 7, 2004
Subject: viola lee blues
This show has the mother of all Viola Lee Blues on it, and has been fodder for many a great party in our earlier years. King Bee is really trippy. A must have, and thank you for posting.

Reviewer: Mike Ashenfelder - - November 8, 2004
Subject: Nice keyboards
There's some really sweet and hot organ playing on "Viola Lee Blues." Could that really be Pig Pen?

Reviewer: Joel Benington - - September 13, 2004
Subject: Over-the-top psychedelia
The night before is unquestionably a better recording, but not a better performance in my opinion. This recording has its share of high-frequency distortion, but it's fairly sharp otherwise--a B- overall. The performance has a manic intensity to it that makes it one of my favorites. Baby Blue, The Other One, and Death Don't Have No Mercy are all on a high level, and together make up a marvelous symphony of death. Sweet Viola Lee Blues is wild, with a priceless a capella ending after the power is cut off.

Reviewer: catzunderstarz - - May 1, 2004
Subject: Please check source of list
This may not be the complete 1st set. Not a bad show, the night before is better.

Notes

--this is from a reel recorded in '69. There are a few minor discontinuities/blemishes in the recording
--there may be missing songs before Schoolgirl
--several minutes are probably missing from the beginning of Schoolgirl.
--there is a splice in Schoolgirl @ 1:26
--the first couple notes of Cryptical(1) are clipped
--the band is forced to finish Viola Lee acapella after the plug is pulled on their instruments, presumably, for playing past Avalon curfew
--Sound Forge was used for a slight pitch correction and a few minor edits